Theron and Teague Harrison, Manual High School’s top debaters and the subjects of our recent feature, “Say What?”, were in New York City this past weekend for the Urban Debate National Championship, along with Thomas Jefferson High debaters Danite Reda and Talan Lousignont. So how did Denver’s debaters stack up?…
Theron and Teague Harrison, Manual High School’s top debaters and the subjects of our recent feature, “Say What?”, left Denver yesterday bound for New York City and the Urban Debate National Championship. Their coach, Charlie Smith, went with them, as did debaters Danite Reda and Talon Lousignont from Thomas Jefferson…
Last August, CU journalism school dean Paul Voakes insisted that reports about the impending death of the J-school were hysterical and premature. Not anymore. Yesterday, at the urging of CU prez Bruce Benson, regents voted for a shutdown by a 5-4 vote — one closer than anticipated, but no less…
Update below: Denver Public School board president Nate Easley has survived an attempt to recall him. Supporters of the effort failed to collect enough valid signatures to place the recall question on an upcoming ballot. They needed 5,363. They collected 5,899. But of those, the Denver Elections Division found that…
With a nickname like “Buffs,” it’s no wonder that the naked-lady-lovin’ folks at Playboy magazine would have a hard-on for the University of Colorado at Boulder. And now they’ve expressed their affection for the school’s lifestyle by naming CU America’s number one party school (Link is NSFW). Which probably won’t…
Tomorrow, Vally Dikovitskaya and seven other members of the Boulder Youth Body Alliance (BYBA), a program dedicated to helping teens with body image concerns and eating disorders, will be in Washington, D.C. They’re hoping to convince Colorado officials to co-sponsor the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders (FREED) Act, which…
Supporters of the effort to recall Denver Public Schools president Nate Easley say they turned in more than 6,000 signatures yesterday to the Denver Elections Division. In order to place the recall question on an upcoming ballot, they need 5,363 valid signatures from voters. The Elections Division now has ten…
Supporters of the effort to recall Denver Public Schools board president Nate Easley have until tomorrow at 5 p.m. to turn in 5,363 valid signatures from voters in Easley’s district of northeast Denver in order to put the recall question on an upcoming ballot. They’ve been at it for the…
Manual High School, home to top debaters Theron and Teague Harrison and a school with a long history of struggle, has picked a new principal: Brian Dale, who currently serves as assistant principal at Bruce Randolph School, another acclaimed “turnaround” story…
Theron and Teague Harrison, Manual High School’s all-star brother-sister debate team and Westword cover siblings, are going to the Urban Debate National Championship in New York City next month. The pair snagged second place at the Denver Urban Debate League City Championship this past Saturday, losing in the finals to…
This week’s cover story, “Say What?,” tells the story of the Manual High School debate team and specifically, brother-sister debaters Theron and Teague Harrison. Westword hung out with the team all year, watching as they practiced and competed, and won and lost. Why do the students participate in debate? Here…
More than one-hundred Denver high schoolers will spend all day Friday and Saturday talking about military spending, nuclear proliferation and dehumanization. It’s all part of the Denver Urban Debate League’s end-all, be-all tournament: the City Championship. Read about the league and two of its stars, Teague and Theron Harrison of…
The drama around the effort to recall Denver Public Schools board president Nate Easley has reached a new low. We recently learned of a blog called “Decline to Sign — Easley for Better Schools.” The first words on the homepage are this: “I’m Dr. Nate Easley, and I am on…
Good news from Denver Public Schools headquarters: In the past five years, the district’s dropout rate has declined 42 percent. In the 2005-06 school year, 11.1 percent of students dropped out. In the 2009-10 school year, 6.4 percent of students dropped out. In real numbers, that means an estimated 1,700…
The effort to recall Denver Public Schools board president Nate Easley has created some odd side dramas. One of them resulted in the outing of Linda Wagner, an Estes Park doggie day care owner and staunch Democrat who blogs on ColoradoPols under the pseudonym “Middle of the Road.” Or did,…
Nate Easley is fighting back. The Denver Public Schools board president is the subject of a recall effort backed by voters unhappy with some of his policies, especially his votes to shutter under-performing schools. Recall proponents have until the end of March to collect 5,363 signatures in order to place…
Update below: New stats show that 72.4 percent of Colorado high school students graduated “on time” in 2010. In other words, 72.4 percent of freshman who started high school in the fall of 2006 donned caps and gowns in the spring of 2010. But is this better or worse than…
Former Denver mayor Wellington Webb is standing up for Nate Easley, the Denver Public Schools board president who’s the target of a recall. That effort was initiated by failed school board candidate John McBride, who once served under Webb. Now, proponents are working to collect the required 5,363 signatures. But…
Update five: Recall proponents are hard at work gathering signatures. But it hasn’t always been easy. See more below our fourth update. Update four: The petition to initiate the recall process has been approved. See more below our third update…
When some Denver-area schools are closed due to weather, they’re usually all closed. But today, Denver Public Schools went rogue, holding classes despite the second day of cold-related closures by other major districts. DPS spokesman Michael Vaughn says parental gripes have gone both ways this week…
Update: Easley responds to DeFENSE Denver below our original item. DeFENSE Denver, a self-described coalition of parents, students and educators, is one of the forces behind the recent recall attempt of Denver Public Schools board president Nate Easley. And the group has not taken kindly to the Denver Post calling…
Last year, Westword profiled Andrea Merida, a Denver Public Schools board member who caused a stir in 2009 when she had herself secretly sworn in. Last year, a few voters tried to recall her after she wrote a negative op-ed about a senate candidate without revealing that she was working…
